War Between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza Dates Back to the ‘Trial of the Century’ and the Capture of ‘El Raton’

Ovidio Guzmán was extradited to the United States, almost nine months after his arrest outside Culiacán.

The latest episode of the HBO documentary Max Culiacanazo: Herederos Del Narco shows how the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán, El Ratón, to the United States affected his father, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, El Chapo, emotionally.

The testimonies of experts, investigative journalists and people close to the world of drug trafficking who participated in the series suggest that the surrender of El Ratón to the United States and what happened in the so-called Trial of the Century against El Chapo Guzmán are the origin of the conflict between the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel: Los Chapitos and La Mayiza.

Ovidio’s Extradition Caused Concern in the Sinaloa Cartel

On September 15, Ovidio Guzman was extradited to the United States, almost nine months after his arrest outside Culiacan. Regarding his delivery to the country of the stars and stripes, then Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reported that El Raton didn’t issue any amparo nor did he oppose the process.

However, the MAX documentary revealed that the Mexican government used a legal loophole to move the process forward by only notifying Ovidio of his extradition, but not his defense; as a result, El Raton’s lawyers learned of their client’s extradition when he was already in the United States.

This, said former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Mike Vigil, caused concern within the Sinaloa Cartel, since it was rumored internally that Ovidio Guzmán was going to reach an agreement with the U.S. government, a situation that remains to be seen to this day.

It is worth remembering that at that time, tensions between the United States and Mexico began to increase due to fentanyl trafficking, most of which was orchestrated by Los Chapitos, so US authorities sold the arrival of Ovidio Guzmán to their country as the end of this problem, since El Ratón controlled the entry of precursor chemicals.

As for Ovidio Guzman, who will face a hearing in the United States on May 12, his physical condition has reportedly deteriorated drastically since his extradition from Mexico. The man who was arrested during the Culiacanazo of 2019 with his shirt unbuttoned… no longer exists.

Background on the war in the Sinaloa Cartel

Mike Vigil pointed out that the capture and extradition of Ovidio Guzman affected El Chapo emotionally, because although he had already been sentenced in the United States years ago, his case and that of his son had many similarities.

“El Ratón is charged with arms and drug trafficking, gun violence and leading a criminal organization, the same accusation as El Chapo, so Ovidio Guzmán’s fate may be inside the Supermax prison, just like his father,” it was mentioned in the documentary.

Between November 5, 2018 and February 12, 2019, the so-called Trial of the Century was held against Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who, among other charges, was accused of drug trafficking.

During his trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office presented 56 witnesses against the Mexican drug trafficker, while El Chapo was only allowed to present one exculpatory testimony.

Among the people who testified against Guzmán Loera were Vicente Zambada Niebla, El Vicentillo, and Jesús Reynaldo Zambada, El Rey; son and brother of Ismael El Mayo Zambada, the capo with whom El Chapo founded the Sinaloa Cartel.

This fact was described by El Chapo’s lawyer in Mexico as a direct betrayal by El Mayo Zambada, who wanted El Chapo to stay in prison to control the entire cartel. For this reason, several experts in the field consider the so-called Trial of the Century to be one of the antecedents to the war between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza.

Another of the antecedents of the war in the Sinaloa Cartel is the one exposed by investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez: Los Chapitos had a grudge against El Mayo Zambada, whom they blamed for the capture of his father; in addition to the rumor that El Vicentillo was behind the death of Edgar Guzman.

But it wasn’t until the capture of Ovidio Guzman that things began to take a turn for the worse in Sinaloa. The Chapitos, as the main producers of fentanyl, sought to monopolize the sale of this chemical drug, including among El Mayo Zambada’s people.

However, with the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, Los Chapitos changed their strategy and began leaving narco messages in Culiacan promising to stop making fentanyl and threatening people who continued to make it, they began to hold El Mayo’s men responsible for international drug trafficking.

One cartel hitman claimed that Los Chapitos have always sought to manipulate the public narrative to make it appear that they’re innocent. 

Since then, the tension between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza grew until, on Thursday, July 25, 2024, it was reported that Joaquin Guzman Lopez had kidnapped El Mayo Zambada to hand him over to US authorities in El Paso, Texas.

Almost a year earlier, in November 2023, the arrest of Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, El Nini, alleged head of security for Los Chapitos, linked to the two Culiacanazo conflicts and who was also extradited to the United States, was reported.

Source: Milenio